(Reuters) – More than 4,220 people aboard the stricken cruise ship Carnival Triumph on Wednesday faced one more night of what some have described as hellish conditions before their expected arrival in Alabama, even as the company said the situation was improving.

The 893-foot (272 meter) vessel has been without propulsion and running on emergency generator power since Sunday, when an engine room fire left it adrift off Mexico’s southern Yucatan Peninsula. It is being hauled by tugboats to Mobile, Alabama, where it is due to arrive no later than Thursday.

Vance Gulliksen, a spokesman for the ship’s operator Carnival Corp, said on Wednesday that conditions aboard the Triumph had improved, even as passengers described dire circumstances on board.

Some passengers who contacted relatives and media earlier this week before their cellphone batteries died reported a horrific situation aboard the ship, saying it was awash in raw sewage from overflowing toilets and running short on food and water.

Kim McKerreghan told CNN news network that her husband and young daughter, who are on board the ship, said in a call on Monday that passengers were being forced to defecate in plastic bags due to a shortage of working toilets and that meals consisted of sandwiches with only condiments or onions.